Modern French Country Style Dining Room Remodel

HappyHauteHome

10 years ago

A dining area is such an important place to gather with family and friends. Under a dimmed chandelier and a good meal, we share stories, we toast to accomplishments, and connect with each other on a deeper level.

How to create your perfect dining space? A dining room should be a very relaxed and calming space, which reflects how you like to feel. It can also be an intimate place, sharing stories that make us feel vulnerable but comforted at the same time. Personally, I like warm colors for a dining space, I want it to feel intimate and cozy.

When we first looked at the house we now own, this is how the dining room appeared. To me, it didn’t have the warm cozy feel I was craving. The drapes and the furniture were heavy for the room and I didn’t feel that the beautiful windows needed any treatments at all. Obviously, the prior owners took the furniture with them, but before I could furnish the room, we needed work on the ceiling.

The ceiling was copper textured and the trim was very heavy. I also didn’t want the medallion in the middle of the ceiling, I was going for a very clean look, a modern farmhouse feel. The picture below shows the trim molding that was up in the dining room.

Once we removed the crown molding from the tray ceiling, the ceiling medallion and lighting, we started on redesigning the ceiling. I love coffered ceilings and wanted to bring in visual interest but didn’t want it to be overbearing. Since we have high ceilings, most are 10′ or higher, adding molding to the tray ceiling wouldn’t make the ceiling feel too low.

But first, we needed to mud all the sides where the trim was and the ceiling medallion circle, to eliminate any lines that may show through once painted. We also sanded the ceiling to remove the texture and give us a flat surface to paint.

By priming the ceiling we could see where more sanding was needed.

Time to build the coffered ceiling. In a future post, I will detail how we built it.The ceiling looked terrific! Typically a traditional coffered ceiling would have crown molding in the boxes, but I chose to leave them out, giving the ceiling a more modern appearance.

Time to paint. I chose a light beige for the ceiling and dark brown color for the walls. I was trying to pick a color to tie in with the black walnut floors. I also used semigloss paint for the ceiling beams and flat paint for the ceiling.

A beautiful crystal chandelier and sconces, a large mirror, a reclaimed wood table and a rug complete the modern farmhouse look!